Many-coloured fruit dove

Many-coloured fruit dove
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Columbiformes
Family:	Columbidae
Genus:	Ptilinopus
Species:	P. perousii
Binomial name
Ptilinopus perousii Peale, 1848

The many-coloured fruit dove (Ptilinopus perousii) is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It occurs on islands in the south-west Pacific Ocean where it is found in Fiji, the Samoan Islands, and Tonga. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It usually feeds high in the canopy on fruit and berries, especially figs. The nest is a small platform of twigs where one white egg is laid.

It is a small dove, 23 cm in length. The male is mostly pale yellow-white with a red crown and red bar across the back. The female is mostly green, darker on the back and greyer on the head and breast. Her crown is red while the undertail-coverts are red in Samoan birds and yellow in birds from Fiji and Tonga.

Female, Vuna, Taveuni, Fiji Isles

Male, Matei, Taveuni, Fiji Isles

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References

• Watling, Dick (2001) A Guide to the Birds of Fiji & Western Polynesia, Environmental Consultants (Fiji), Suva.